CITY BEAT
Atlanta
Hotel Building Boom
Ten new luxury hotels are in the pipeline, with five slated to open in 2008. Among them are three W properties; a 150-room St. Regis; and The Mansion on Peachtree, with 127 guest rooms. The city’s venues also have branched out. Highlights include an additional 10,000 square feet of event space, unveiled earlier this year, at the Georgia Aquarium, and the new $106 million performing arts center that opened in September at the Cobb Galleria.
Seattle
Adding Attractions
Earlier this year, the Seattle Art Museum opened its nine-acre Olympic Sculpture Park and unveiled a 118,000-square-foot expansion. The Seattle Aquarium reopened in June, following a renovation and 18,000-square-foot expansion. In addition, the city will increase by six hotels in 2008, including a 149-room Four Seasons and a 346-room Hyatt at Olive 8, the latter featuring 15,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space.
AZ, Tucson
Hotel: Embassy Suites
Tucson - Paloma Village. Opened: September.
Rooms: 120. Meeting space: 5,400
square feet. Key features: a heated indoor pool
and hot tub, a fitness facility, a business center, a three-story
atrium decorated with local artwork, and several retailers and art
galleries.
CA, Laguna
Hotel: Ritz-Carlton,
Laguna Niguel. Renovations completed: January.
Price tag: $40 million. Rooms:
393. Meeting space: 80,224 square feet.
Key features: phase one: upgrades to guest rooms,
a new restaurant, spa and fitness center. Phase two: new decor for
all indoor meeting space.
CA, San Francisco
Hotel: Hotel Kabuki.
Reopened: November. Price tag:
$8.6 million. Rooms: 218. Meeting
space: 14,000 square feet. Key changes:
guest rooms remodeled with Japanese-style decor; personalized bath
butlers; in-room spa treatments; and a new restaurant and bar, the
O Izakaya Lounge.
Dozens of Perks.The 102-suite
Twelve Hotel & Residences Centennial Park opened in downtown
Atlanta in September. The boutique property offers an on-site steak
house; an outdoor pool and pool deck; and 5,260 square feet of
meeting space, including two meeting rooms, a hospitality lounge
and an executive board room. All guest rooms have free Wi-Fi access
and DVD players. (404) 418-1212; twelvehotels.com
D.C., Washington
Hotel: Omni Shoreham
Hotel. Renovations completed: guest rooms,
October; ballroom, by January 2008. Price tag: $15
million. Rooms: 834. Meeting
space: 100,000 square feet. Key changes:
revamp to all guest rooms; new lighting, flooring and chandeliers
in the ballroom.
FL, Orlando
Hotel: Loews Royal
Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando. Renovations
completed: by year’s end. Price tag: $8.5
million. Rooms: 1,000. Meeting
space: 85,000 square feet. Key changes:
Guest rooms will have new bedding, carpeting, flat-screen TVs and
wireless Internet.
KY, Lexington
Hotel: Brown Hotel.
Renovations completed: Decem-ber. Price
tag: $1 million. Rooms: 293.
Meeting space: 21,000 square feet. Key
changes: the addition of 5,000 square feet of meeting
space, including a 2,600-square-foot conference room.
VA, Dulles
Hotel: Hampton Inn
& Suites Washington-Dulles Airport. Opened:
October. Rooms: 170. Meeting
space: 3,600 square feet. Key features:
high-speed Internet in guest rooms, a pool and a fitness
center.
WA, Seattle
Hotel: Sheraton
Seattle. Renovations completed: October.
Price tag: $130 million. Rooms:
1,258. Meeting space: 75,000 square feet.
Key changes: new 420-room tower with 12,000 square
feet of event space.